Garden in the front yard

I’m not sure how this particular brain worm entered my head but for the past few years I’ve been getting more anti grass and more pro garden.

My mom is certainly part of it, she mused that it would be great if landscapers would evolve to be more like small farmers and farm chunks of yard all over suburbia. The home owner would get a ‘cut’ and the landscaper/farmer would get produce to sell as well as a fee from the house. Hopefully this would be mutually beneficial and the garden farm would be pretty to look at as well as functional.

Hank Green of the VlogBrothers was certainly a part of the thought. He is very anti grass and talked about how much water and time and energy is spent to make something hardly useful. I actually think a nice place to play that isn’t dirt is a good thing, and, grass prevents soil erosion but we do spend a ton of money on keeping the grass looking nice.

Personally as I get older and think more about my impact on the world I try to make better choices. I’m using more green household products to not just protect my family but also try and reduce the cost and energy used to filter our waste water. Cloth diaper choice, Prius choice, up cycling where I can and composting. This year I decided to skip spending $100 on flowers for our front flower bed and spent far less on a bunch of tomato plants and a few flowers that now grace the front walkway.

Maybe it is because I’m doing it that I notice, or, the trend is just catching on overall but I’ve noticed at least 10 other houses with fruit/veg plants in the front yard. For some I think the best light is in the front but some people have turned their entire yard into farm except for a few small areas. I’m not sure I’ll go that far, for one point I’m not that good a farmer, but I’m glad to see for whatever reason that my neighbors are going greener with their choice of how to spend water and energy tending their yard.